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There's almost no other way to put it: Here we go again.
Two months ahead of his title defense at Strikeforce's next card – and reportedly its last card – lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez has been sidelined again.
The news comes from Tatame, and UFC/Zuffa President Dana White said on a fan chat with the Montreal Gazette earlier in the day Friday that he believed Melendez was going to be off the January show.

A light-heavyweight bout between Eddie Mendez (7-0-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Nick Penner (11-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is the latest addition to next month's UFC on FX 6 event in Australia.
Mendez replaces injured Ednaldo Oliveira (13-1-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), and Penner evidently replaces Krzysztof Soszynski (26-12-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC), though no reason was given for his withdrawal.
UFC officials announced the new bout overnight.
UFC on FX 6, which also served as the final of "The Ultimate Fighter: The Smashes," takes place Dec. 15 at Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre in Broadbeach, Gold Coast, Australia. The event's main card airs live on FX (on Dec. 14 in the U.S. due to the time difference) following prelims on FUEL TV.
Mendez vs. Penner likely will be part of the prelims.

A welterweight matchup between perennial contender Jon Fitch (24-4-1 MMA, 14-2-1 UFC) and Brazilian submission ace Demian Maia (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) is the latest addition to February's UFC 156 event.
UFC officials today announced the new contest.
Featuring a featherweight title fight between current champ Jose Aldo and former lightweight title holder Frankie Edgar, UFC 156 takes place Feb. 2 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The evening's main card airs on pay-per-view.
Maia currently boasts a two-fight win streak after downing Rick Story at this past month's UFC 153 event in Rio de Janeiro and earning a bizarre TKO victory over Dong Hyun Kim at July's UFC 148 fight card in Las Vegas. The two victories came after a disappointing 1-2 run that included losses to Chris Weidman and Mark Munoz.
Maia is a Fabio Gurgel black belt and former world champion jiu-jitsu player who one ea. However, his recent win over Story marked Maia's first submission win since a 2009 tapout victory over Chael Sonnen.

Patrick Cote took a fight against Cung Le on four weeks' notice, but unlike some who step up in the UFC, he was given no guarantees he'd be back.
"If I had a bad performance, they wouldn't give me another fight, for sure," Cote told MMAjunkie.com.
Cote lost, but was the first to take Le the distance. And with a full training camp, he said he's better prepared for his next opponent, Alessio Sakara.

The UFC returns for another mid-winter fight card in the Windy City in January, and tickets for the event go on sale later this month.
"UFC on FOX: Johnson vs. Dodson" is official for Chicago's United Center on Jan. 26. The main event features the first flyweight title defense of Demetrious Johnson against top contender John Dodson.
UFC officials on Thursday announced the card, with tickets for the event on sale to the general public Nov. 30 with pre-sale dates on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29.

Dez Green was finishing up his studies at the University at Buffalo, though no longer a member of the wrestling team, when a friend called with an offer.
They friend was taking part in a small amateur MMA show that weekend. The organizers needed another fighter, and the friend knew Green was a skilled wrestler at Buffalo before several failed marijuana drug tests ended his career.
He thought MMA could be a good fit for Green.

In a battle of former TUF 10 cast members, Roy Nelson will now meet Matt Mitrione at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale on Dec. 15 in Las Vegas, MMAFighting.com learned from sources close to the event.
When contacted by MMAFighting.com, both Mitrione, as well as Nelson's camp declined to comment on the pending fight. According to sources, though, both fighters have verbally agreed to meet next month.
The news comes just a day after Shane Carwin pulled out of the Nelson bout due to an injured knee.

Marlon Sandro has been so close to the mountaintop he could practically have reached out to plant his flag. Twice.
But twice, he has come up short. Friday, Sandro begins the road back to what he hopes is another appearance in a Bellator tournament championship – and what he hopes ultimately will be a different result.
Sandro meets Dustin Neace at Bellator 81 with the hope of setting the tone for a breakout 2013.

With MMA's big 2013 television-schedule shuffle rapidly approaching, Bellator Fighting Championships has apparently played its first card.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has confirmed with the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that Bellator has reserved Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall for Thursday, Jan. 10.
Bellator officials were not immediately available for comment, but sources close to the promotion suggested that event will serve as Bellator 85 and mark the company's debut on Spike TV.
"The Jan. 10 has already been formally requested and officially reserved for Bellator in Atlantic City," NJSACB Counsel Nick Lembo told MMAjunkie.com.
Officials have already been assigned for the evening, and as an interesting side note, recently retired UFC veteran Tom DeBlass is expected to serve as a shadow judge.
Spike TV officials would not confirm the plans and would only suggest that the network is "exploring many different options right now." However, additional sources indicated the network is leaning toward a 10 p.m. ET slot, which would allow Spike TV to use TNA Impact Wrestling (which also employs Bellator light heavyweight contender Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal) as lead-in programming for the MMA promotion's weekly events.
Bellator is currently in the middle of its seventh season, the final one on MTV2 before the organization moves to the higher-rated Spike TV, the former home of the UFC, next year. The promotion is currently earning an average of 168,700 viewers per Season 7 event, but that figure is expected to rise when the promotion moved to Spike TV, which has been a primary destination for MMA fans since the 2006 debut of "The Ultimate Fighter

Despite nothing being official from either side, a potential super-fight between Anderson Silva and Georges St-Pierre has a time frame set up. UFC president Dana White told ESPN's SportsCenter on Thursday that the promotion is looking at May for Silva-GSP.
"Anderson Silva will be there Saturday watching, and if (GSP) wins, it'll be a huge fight for us," White said (thanks to MMAjunkie.com for transcribing). "It'll probably be the biggest fight in UFC history."
White reiterated that the bout would take place in either a "soccer stadium in Brazil, Dallas' Texas Stadium, or we'd do Toronto again."

No one has ever questioned that B.J. Penn wants to go down in the annals of UFC history as one of the best fighters of all time, but there have been moments when his motivation to train and prepare have come into doubt.
Returning from a short-lived retirement to face Rory MacDonald at UFC on Fox 5 on Dec. 8 in Seattle, however, Penn appears to be at the top of his game, even in the training room.
At least, if the training partners he’s hired for this fight are any indication, it appears that Penn couldn’t be any more serious about his Octagon comeback...

Gray Maynard's manager, David Martin, informed MMAWeekly.com that "The Bully" has torn his medial and lateral meniscus in his knee and will need surgery. Maynard was forced out of a planned UFC 155: Dos Santos vs. Velasquez II fight with Joe Lauzon due to the injury on Wednesday.
Following a victory over Clay Guida earlier this year, Maynard was looking to finish 2012 on the right note. Instead, he'll be headed for an operating table. Martin confirmed Maynard will have surgery next week and is expected to be away from training for three-to-five weeks.
The UFC has already announced a replacement for Maynard, as Jim Miller has stepped in to face Lauzon on December 29 from Las Vegas.

Shane Carwin's manager, Jason Genet of Ingrained Media, told Fighters.com on Wednesday night that his client suffered extensive damage to his knee in training. UFC president Dana White confirmed that Carwin will not make his scheduled December encounter with Roy Nelson at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.
"He was essentially training through the injury and pushed too hard, too fast," Genet said. "The gut feeling is that he can recover without surgery if he rehabs it."
Genet said that Carwin, a former interim UFC heavyweight champion, tore his PCL, LCL and popliteus in his knee, but added, "Shane will be fine and is staying positive."
Carwin has not competed since early in 2011, falling to current UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos. He underwent back surgery and was on his way to returning before the knee injury.

Former UFC champion Royce Gracie made an interesting remark on Wednesday following news of Shane Carwin's knee injury. Carwin was forced to pull out of a planned fight with Roy Nelson at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale in December with the injury.
"So much for the claims (Nelson) was trying to get out of the fight with (Carwin)," Gracie posted, "guess that random test (expletive) up the cycle and 'blew out the knee.'"
Gracie is claiming that Carwin would have failed a pre-fight drug test for a banned substance had he went ahead with the bout. This is all just Gracie stating his own opinion, but Carwin and Nelson had several arguments over such claims before they began coaching on The Ultimate Fighter.
Nelson is expected to remain on the card, as the UFC has said they are searching for a replacement.

The 17th season of Ultimate Fighter, which is currently being filmed in Las Vegas with Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen as coaches, is expected to air on Wednesday nights, starting in January on FX.
The show moving to a better night was announced by FX Executive Vice President Chuck Safler back in October. Malki Kawa, the manager of Jones, said the move would be to Wednesday in an interview with The Fight Network. Subsequently, MMAFighting.com confirmed the new date with Dana White.
In doing so, the show is moving back to the night it ran on Spike for many years. The show moved to Fridays at the start of 2012, with the move from Spike TV to FX. Even though moving to a significantly higher rated network, and having the fights air live for the first time in the show's history, ratings fell to the lowest level in the show's history.

When it rains, it pours. Just minutes after announcing a torn knee had forced Shane Carwin out of his bout against Roy Nelson, an undisclosed injury has now yanked Gray Maynard (Pictured) from his UFC 155 shootout against Joe Lauzon.
As we all know full well, the Octagon show waits for no man. It will be Miller Time on December 29th, as Jim Miller has agreed to serve as substitute.